5 Reasons Why Manchester City Will Catch Chelsea and Win Premier League
During Chelsea's recent match with Sunderland, the NBC Sports Network posted a graphic noting that Chelsea, with 10 wins and two draws from 12 matches, were two points behind Manchester City's 2011/12 start to that season. City's 11 wins from 12 matches remains the best beginning to a league campaign ever.
NBC Sports Network commenter Arlo White then observed coolly that City won the league on goal difference at the end of that season.
"Chelsea will probably end up being crowned Premier League champions in May, but that does not mean the title race is a formality," said The Telegraph after Chelsea's 0-0 draw with Sunderland. "Their coronation is not certain. It remains a case of if they win it, rather than when."
Here are five reasons why City will catch Chelsea.
Chelsea Are Still a Striker Short
1 of 5
That same piece in The Telegraph observed that Chelsea striker Diego Costa has some unpleasant surprises waiting for him in December and January.
"With no winter break, the likes of Diego Costa and Cesc Fàbregas, arguably Chelsea’s two best players, will find the effort needed in December a horribly draining experience. It will be completely alien to Costa and his body, in particular the hamstring that caused him problems last month, could fail him when put under unfamiliar strain in an English winter.
"
Against Sunderland, Costa was harried into picking up a yellow card and came off in the 76th minute. Jose Mourinho's bench options at striker were Didier Drogba and Loic Remy. Neither of them have nearly Costa's quality.
Chelsea rode Costa's hot start to the 2014/15 season to their current perch at the top of the Premier League table. But he is apt to start slowing down, and Chelsea have few places to go to find the goals Costa gives them if he cannot sustain his scoring pace.
Chelsea Are Probably Not the New Invincibles
2 of 5
Chelsea have led the Premier League comfortably for most of the 2014/15 season by virtue of their torrid start. Naturally, speculation is already rampant as to whether Chelsea can match or better the accomplishments of Arsenal's "Invincibles."
"(T)he Chelsea team astutely re-tooled by Mourinho over the last 18 months have begun the season with 15 wins and four draws from 19 matches in all competitions," noted Glenn Moore in The Independent.
Moore also quoted Mourinho thus: "Even the draws we’ve had were matches we were closer to winning than losing. We missed a penalty at Maribor and conceded a last-second goal against Man United."
Until Chelsea lose, it will remain fashionable to think that they can play 38 league matches without doing so. With so much of the season still to go, though, the suggestion that they will not lose is premature and a bit silly.
"It might be due to a bad refereeing decision, a goalkeeper error, a foolish red card or an opponent having the game of his life," Moore wrote about the ways the unbeaten streak might end.
As other clubs have learned this season, once you start dropping points it can become awfully tough to stop doing so.
Chelsea Remain Alive for the Quadruple, Which Is Not Necessarily a Good Thing
3 of 5
It was not a coincidence last season that City's late-season run to the Premier League title began in earnest once their pursuit of four trophies ended.
City won the League Cup and were dropped unceremoniously out of the FA Cup and Champions League competitions by early March 2014. Suddenly, their fixture-congestion problems were all solved.
As long as they're are alive for all four of these prizes (as they are now), Chelsea's likelihood of continuing their dominant Premier League form diminishes. Which, incidentally, might be fine with Chelsea.
City have no such problems, having already dropped out of the League Cup this season and being very close to out of the Champions League. Quite soon, City's complete attention may shift to defending their Premier League title.
Chelsea are not likely to have that luxury this season.
The Premier League Already Appears to Be a 2-Horse Race
4 of 5
Chelsea are an enormous obstacle in City's path to defending their Premier League title. But the bright side to that fact is that Chelsea are also basically the only obstacle for City.
Several of City's recent tormentors are experiencing serious crises at the moment. Liverpool and Everton are in the middle of the table. Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are stuck on 20 points through 13 matches played. It took a victory over West Brom to pull Arsenal up from their worst league start ever.
Right behind City in the table are Southampton, who just absorbed a convincing beating by City, and a Manchester United club who continue to struggle to keep 11 healthy players on the pitch.
Soon enough, Chelsea and City may be so far ahead of the third-place side (whoever that may be) that City's focus will only be on catching Chelsea, not protecting their place in Europe.
City Have Been Here Before
5 of 5
For all of Jose Mourinho's accomplishments, and as good as Chelsea are, in Chelsea we are still talking about a club that has won one Premier League title in the past eight seasons.
Conversely, City have won two of the last three league crowns.
Much was made of Liverpool stumbling to the finish line last season to permit City the chance to seize the trophy. But really, it was Chelsea who spit the bit down the stretch.
Chelsea's losses at Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, as well as a shocking defeat to Sunderland and an even worse draw with Norwich City at Stamford Bridge, did more to boost City's title run than even Chelsea's win over Liverpool did.
City won their two titles on the last day of each of their winning seasons. Chelsea had better put the league away quickly, because recent history has shown that City are not a club to be left to hang around at the end.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
